[zinistr]

I enjoyed the heck out of my time during ZDayZ and attendance was close. However, it did miss the ZCON (2010) attendance record by ~30 registrants. We also had a couple hundred non-registrant Z owners show up to spectate that year in addition to the registered folks.

Some folks won't do certain ZCONs just because they move around the country (by design, btw)...and for east US folks, Phoenix is really far away. I believe the majority of the ZDayZ folks were eastern U.S. so that wouldn't surprise me if some folks don't make it. It's much, much easier to hold an event in the same location year after year and get good attendance.

The ZCCA convention (ZCON) is and has been a new event every year though we try to keep part of the agenda consistent. Each year there's a different team hosting, different location, different venues. That's both a big part of the attraction for folks who like to drive their Z's and see different parts of the country...but it's also a detractor as well when folks have limited funds and vacation time. Gas prices certainly aren't going down and for us here in the eastern US it'll be a 3-day drive in many cases (one way).

Personally, I love ZDayZ, but every year I long to see a different part of the country and try new events and see different regions. I skip ZDayZ every now and then for that exact reason (bit of boredom and not wanting to go the same place over and over...). For me, that's where I see ZCON being attractive to those seeking to wear their tires on new roads, test out new tracks and generally just see an area they haven't yet.

The Desert Z gang hosting this year have a great event lined up...HPDE at Firebird Raceway, Nissan Testing Facility (with banked oval laps and skidpad area use for our autocross), a nice casino/hotel for the host hotel and a bunch of other events throughout the week.

This year is also the 25th Anniversary celebration for us so it'll be a special year with the likes of Peter Brock, Bob Sharp, Steve Millen, Randy Rodriguez, John Morton and others from Nissan past and present history there. Rumor has it several folks from Japan and Europe are also coming over to hang with us...

Nissan North America is planning something special as well - Innovation tent display and Project 370z (like ZDayZ) will be there, but we'll also have special car displays and some unique enthusiast offers for ZCON attendees.

Hit up the website - www.zcon.org - and pose any questions to the Desert Z convention team or those of us in the ZCCA at www.zcca.org. It'll be a good time.